Picking an Automatic Espresso Machine starts with Picking the Right Espresso Pod

If you are on the market for a device to help you make a great espresso, you have your choice in an automatic espresso machine or one of those stovetop ones. Most people have a certain recipe, a procedure that they've come to trust to have the perfect cup of espresso made for them. The way true enthusiasts can go on about how the perfect cup gets made, you'd believe that it was high art. To these people, it's all down to the blend of coffee used, the way you drop it into a filter, and the kind and quantity of water you use. If you had an automatic espresso machine, most of the work of how you make a cup is done for you. There is a little artistry left in it other than to control the kind of coffee and water you bring to the process. But there is a way to automate this part too using an automatic espresso machine. And that is, to buy espresso pods - little packets of espresso ingredients all set into a filter paper container, that you just need to drop into the espresso machine that they are made for.

There are dozens of models of espresso machine out there, and the way they make an espresso pod has to be the right way that they would fit into all of them. Not only does using these take the work out of making your own cup of espresso, you make sure that each cup you make is your best one - there is consistency maintained right across the board each time you make a cup. Just think about it - espresso needs very finely ground coffee. It's easy to filter incorrectly in the traditional method and have some of the grounds get into the cup. Using a pod is about the best way to put the word 'automatic' back into 'espresso'.

There's a reason we started out on our discussion of the automatic espresso machine, talking about the coffee first. The machine you end up buying should be the one you can find espresso pods easily for. The taste of your coffee resides in a choice of pod more than anything else. The best espresso machines are usually Italian - Saeco, DeLonghi and so on. Luckily, these don't have to cost an arm and a leg. The DeLonghi EC 155 is a great machine for less than $80. It is pump-driven and not driven by steam. It's sturdy, but it needs a bit more cleaning than it should. The Saeco 00126 Gran Crema costs three times as much, but it's about the best you can buy. You'll probably keep this machine for the best part of a decade. The build quality is that good.